makes it nearly impossible to build more housing join habitat for humanity in rejecting prop e, and supporting prop d to build more affordable housing for everyone. now. good evening. we're awaiting a major speech from president biden on the most important issue in the midterm elections. now just six days away.

protecting our democracy. the president is expected to address threats from maga republican election deniers to not accept the result thofs year's vote. and the growing embrace of political violence in the aftermath of the hammer attack on house speaker pelosi's 82-year-old husband. joining me for the hour are jen saki, matthew dowd and david plus. jen i start with you. you've been talking to white house officials. what should we expect to hear from the president? >> joy, it's six days until the election and this is the big closing argument for the president. there he's doing this because at this point it'sless about convincing people that you have a better plan. it's about lighting a fire under those democrats and people who are going to support democratic candidates to get them out. the other piece they are focused on is saying to democratics and other people voting for

candidates hang with us. it may be a long week. it may take time to count the votes but stick with us and that's vital at this point. let me go around the horn. matthew, that pause that we're going probably see between election night and -- wait a minute. i'm going to pause more. here comes president biden. he's walking up to the podium. let's take him live. good evening everyone. just a few days ago, a little before 2:30 a.m. in the morning, man smashed the back window and broke in to the home of the speaker of house of representatives, the third highest ranking official in america. he carried in his backpack zip ties, duct tape, rope, and a hammer. as he told the police he had come looking for nancy pelosi to take her hostage, to interrogate

her, to threaten to break her kneecaps. but she wasn't there. her husband, my friend paul pelosi, was home alone. the assailant tried to take paul hostage. he woke him up. he wanted to tie him up. the assailant ended up using a hammer to smash paul's skull. thankfully, by the grace of god, paul survived. all this happened after the assault -- it's hard to even say. it's hard to even say. after the assailant entered the home asking where is nancy? where is nancy? those are the very same words used by the mob when they stormed the united states capitol on january 6. when they broke windows, kicked in the doors, brutally attacked

law enforcement, roamed the corridors hunting for officials and erected gallows to hang the former vice president mike pence. it was an enraged mob that had been whipped up in to a frenzy by a president repeating over and over again the big lie that the election of 2020 had been stolen. it's a lie that fuelled the dangerous rise in political violence and voter intimidation over the past two years. even before january 6, we saw election officials and election workers in a number of states subject to menacing call, physical threats, even threats to their very lives. in georgia, for example, republican secretary of state and his family were subjected to death threats because he refused to break the law and give in to the defeated president's demand

just find him 11,780 votes. just find me 11,780 votes. election workers like shay moss and her mother ruby were harassed and threatened just because they had the courage to do their job and stand up for the truth. to stand up for our democracy. this institution, this intimidation, this violence against democrats, republicans and nonpartisan officials just doing their jobs are the consequence of lies told for power and profit. lies of conspiracy and malice. lies repeated overand over to generate a cycle of anger, hate and even violence. in this moment we have to confront those lies with the

truth. the very future of our nation depends on it. my fellow americans we are facing a defining moment, an inflection point. we must with one overwhelming unified voice speak as a country and say there's no place, no place for voter intimidation or political violence in america. whether it's directed at democrats or republicans. no place, period. no place ever. i speak today near capitol hill, near the u.s. capitol. the citadel of our democracy. i know there's a lot at stake in midterm elections from our economy to safety of our streets to personal freedoms, the future of health care, social security, medicare, it's all important. we'll have our differences. we have our difference of opinion. that's what's it's supposed to

be. but there's something else at stake. democracy itself. i'm not the only one who sees it. recent polls have shown overwhelming majority of americans believe our democracy is at risk. that our democracy is under threat. they, too, see that democracy is on the ballot this year and they are deeply concerned about it. so today i appeal to all americans, regardless of party, to meet this moment of national and generational importance. we must vote knowing what's at stake and not just the policy of the moment but institution that is have held us together as we've sought a more perfect union are also at stake. we must vote knowing who we have been, what we're at risk of becoming. look, my fellow americans, the old expression freedom is not free. it requires constant vigilance.

from the very beginning nothing has been guaranteed about democracy in america. every generation has had to defend it, protect it, preserve it, choose it. that's what democracy is. it's a choice. a decision of the people, by the people and for the people. the issue couldn't be clearer in my view. we the people must decide whether we'll have fair and free elections and every vote counts. we the people must decide whether we're going to sustain a republic where reality is accepted, the law is obeyed and your vote is truly sacred. we the people must decide whether the rule of law will prevail or allow the dark forces to thirst for power put ahead of

the principles that long guided us. american democracy is under attack because the defeated former president of the united states refused to accept the results of the 2020 election. he refuses to accept the will of the people. he refuses to accept the fact that he lost. he has abused his power and put the loyalty to himself before loyalty to the constitution. he's made a big lie, an article of faith in the maga republican party. the minority of that party. the great irony about the 2020 election is it's the most attacked election in our history. and yet there's no election in our history we can be more certain of its results. every legal challenge that could have been brought was brought. every recount that could have

been undertaken was undertaken. every recount confirmed the results. wherever fact or evidence had been demanded the big lie has been proven to be just that. a big lie. every single time. yet now extreme maga republicans aim to question not only the legitimacy of past elections but elections being held now and in the future. the extreme maga element of republican party which is a minority of that party, as i said earlier, but is the driving force. it's trying to succeed where they failed in 2020. to suppress the right of voters and subvert the electoral system itself. that means denying your right to vote and deciding whether your vote even counts.

instead of waiting until an election is over they are starting well before it. they are starting now. they've emboldened violence and intimidation of voter and election officials. it's estimated there are more than 300 election deniers on the ballot all across america this year. we can't ignore the impact this is having on our country. it's damaging, it's corrosive and it's destructive. i want to be very clear. this is not about me. this is about all of us. it's about what makes america, america. it's about durability of our democracy. for democracies are more than a form of government. they are a way of being. a way of seeing the world. a way that defines who we are, what we believe, why we do what

we do. democracy is simply that fundamental. we must in this moment dig deep within ourselves and recognize that we can't take democracy for granted any longer. with democracy on the ballot we have to remember these first principles. democracy means the rule of the people not the rule of monarchs or the money but the rule of the people. autocracy is the opposite of democracy. it means the rule of one. one person, one interest, one ideology, one party. state the obvious the lives of billions of people from antiquity to now have been shaped by the battle between these competing forces. between the aspirations of the many and the greed and power of the few. between the people's right for

self-determination and the self-seeking autocrat. between the dreams of a democracy and the appetites of an autocracy. what we're doing now is going to determine whether democracy will long endure. in my view it's the biggest of questions. whether the american system that prides the individual bends toward justice and depends on the rule of law, whether that system will prevail. this is a struggle for democracy. a struggle for decency and dignity. a struggle for prosperity and progress. a struggle for the very soul of america itself. make no mistake democracy is on the ballot for all of us. we must remember that democracy is a covenant. we need to start looking out for each other again, seeing

ourselves as we the people not as entranced enemies. this is a choice we can make. this union and chaos are not inevitable. there's been anger before in america. there's been division before in america but we've never given up on the american experiment. we can't do that now. the remarkable thing about american democracy is this. just enough of us on just enough occasions have chosen not to dismantle democracy but to preserve democracy. we must choose that path again. because democracy is on the ballot we have to remember that even in our darkest moments there are fundamental values and believes that unite us as americans and they must unite us now. what are they?

i think first we believe the vote in america is sacred to be honored and not denied, rmted not dismissed, counted not ignored. a vote is not partisan tool to be counted when it helps your candidates and tossed aside when it doesn't. second, we must with an overwhelming voice stand against political violence and voter intimidation, period. stand up and speak against it. we don't settle our differences in america with a riot, a mob or a bullet or a hammer. we settle them peacefully at the ballot box. we have to be honest with ourselves though. we have to face this problem. we can't turn away from it. we can't pretend it's just going to solve itself.

there's an alarming rise in the number of our people in this country condoning political violence or simply remaining in silence because silence is complicity. there's a disturbing rise of voter intimidation. the pernicious tendency to excuse political violence or, at least, trying to explain it away. we can't allow this sentiment to grow. we must confront it head on, now. it has to stop now. i believe the voices excusing or calling for violence and intimidation are distinct minority in but they are loud and they are determined. we have to be more determined. all of us who reject political violence and voter intimidation, and i believe that's the overwhelming majority of the american people, all of us must unite to make it absolutely

clear that violence and intimidation have no place in america. third, we believe in democracy. that's who we are as americans. i know it isn't easy. democracy isn't perfect. it always has been. but we are all called to defend it now. now. history and common sense tell us that liberty, opportunity and justice thrive in a democracy not in an autocracy. at our best america is not a zero sum society. or for you to succeed someone else has to fail. a promise america is big enough -- it's big enough for everyone to succeed. every generation opening the door of opportunity a little bit wider. every generation, including those excluded before.

we believe we should leave no one behind because each one of us is a child of god and every person, every person is sacred. if that's true than every person's rights pus be sacred, as well. individual dignity, individual worth, individual determination. that's network. that's democracy. that's what we have to defend. look, even as i speak here tonight 27 million people have already cast their ballot in the midterm elections. millions more will cast their ballot in the final days leading up to november 8. for the first time this is the first time since the national election of 2020, once again, we're seeing record turnout all over the country. that's good. we want americans to vote.

we want every american's voice to be heard. now we have to move the process forward. we know that more and more ballots are cast in early voting are by mail in america. we know that many states don't start counting those ballots until after the polls close on november 8. that means in some cases we won't know the winner of the election for a few days until after a few days after the election. it takes time to count all legitimate ballots in a legal and orderly manner. it's always been important for citizens of democracy to be informed and engaged. now it's important for citizens to be patient, as well. that's how this is suppose to work. this is also the first election since the events of january 6 when the armed angry mob stormed the u.s. capitol. i wish i could say the assault

on the democracy ended that day but i cannot. as i stand here today, there are candidates running for every level of office in america for govern, congress, attorney general, secretary of state who won't commit -- will not commit to accepting the results of the election that they are running in. this is a path to chaos in america. it's unprecedented. it's unlawful. it's un-american. i have said before you can't love your country only when you win. this is no ordinary year. i ask you to think long and hard about the moment we're in. in a typical year we're often not faced with questions of whether the vote we cast will preserve democracy or put us at

risk. this year we are. this year i hope you'll make the future of our democracy an important part of your decision to vote and how you vote. i hope you'll ask a simple question of each candidate you might vote for. will that person accept the legitimate will of the american people and people voting in his or her district? will that person accept the outcome of the election win or lose? the answer to that question is vital and in my opinion, should be decisive. the answer to that question hangs the future of the country we love so much and the fate of the democracy that's made so much possible for us. too many people have sacrificed too much for too many years for us to walk away there the american project in democracy. because we've enjoyed our freedoms for so long it's easy to think they'll always be with us no matter what. but that isn't true today.

in our bones we know democracy is at risk. we also know this. it's within our power, each and every one of us, to preserve our democracy. i believe we will. i think i know this country. i know we will. you have the power. it's your choice. it's your decision. the fate of the nation, the fate of the soul of america lies where it always does, with the people. in your hands, in your heart, in your ballot. my fellow americans we'll meet this moment. we just need to remember who we are. we are the united states of america. there's nothing, nothing beyond our capacity if we do it together. may god bless you all.

may god protect our troops. may god bless those standing guard over our democracy. thank you and god speed. you can't love your country only when you win. president joseph biden appealing to all americans regardless of party in a call for unity, in a call for acceptance of election results saying the violence that we saw including the violence against paul pelosi was the product of lies. lies that we have to fight with the truth. i'm going bring back in my panel in a moment. first let me bring in congressman raskin. congress whanman why do you think the president chose to give a speech like this. a plaintiff call for americans to essentially stand down and stand up to the lies that we've seen about the previous election and, apparently, anticipating the potential that republicans won't accept the results of this

one. why do you think he did that today? >> hello joy. it was a beautiful and heartfelt speech. i think the president understands the enormous magnitude of the threats we're facing as a democratic society, as political violence continues to spiral in unpredictable and dangerous ways. we don't have a clear throated denunciation and renunciation of political violence by both of our major political parties and by all political figures. on the contrary, it seems like even in episode as egregious as the attack on the pelosi family could then become the source of ironic commentary and humor and triflizing statements by

politicians. i think the president is really alarmed about what's going on. i'm glad he made that speech. i wish he had put it in somewhat more in a global context because democracy is undersiege all over the world. we know the force that is are undermining elections in america and attacking basic democratic institutions and values here are in league with autocrats and theocrats abroad and bigger than the president suggests here. >> in the context you gave there is an international context to threats of democracy. it seems to me to be a problem. the only person who felt the need to give a national address to call upon americans to do something that seems pretty basic. to accept the results of elections. but it's only coming from the leader of the party that already

does accept elections. that already does accept the results when they lose. hillary clinton did that already. president obama called donald trump when he became his successor. he even said he wasn't happy about it but he did it. do you see the problem being that there isn't anyone on the republican side saying similar things? i think mike pence did a tweet but there's no one with any moral gravatas or compelled the other side to say anything like this. >> i think that's why joe biden wanted to speak in evening. not as the head of the democratic party but rather as the president of the nation and the leader of the executive branch. i think he struck the right tone for that. i think that as a democrat with a big d, i would be talking about the fact, also, that

democracy is not just a static institutions but it's a work in progress. it's unfinished. there are things in motion. we got 713,000 tax payable drafting citizens in washington, d.c. where the president was speaking who are the only resident of the national capitol on earth not represented in thoir own congress. we have 3.5 million americans in puerto rico seeking their state hood. we need state hood admissions. a constitutional amendment guaranteeing the right to voechlt we need to get rid of gerrymandering. i would try to invoke in a more partisan political sense the spirit of john who said that the only solution to the ills of democracy is more democracy. what we're suffering from today is all of the impediments and obstacles to democracy, voter suppression tactics,

gerrymandering for federal and state districts the use of the filibuster to shut down voting rights legislation. like the we the people act and the john lewis voting right acts and the activism undercutting the freedoms of the people. the reason i like the speech we saw was because joe biden was trying to strike that tone as the leader of the whole country and well he should. as you were saying there's nobody really attempting to do that on the other side so she needs to speak for all of america at this point. >> i would remiss if i didn't ask since you are here and a member of the january 6 committee. when you come out with your report that is going to be about only the second time our capitol has been attacked. the other time by the british, not even by fellow americans. the ransacking the capitol for the purpose of denying elections, the very thing the president spoke about tonight. are you concerned we are at a

point now where there's nothing you could put in that report that is going to convince a third or whatever percent of the country, the president side a minority of the party. but a very large por rallty of the other party they will accept and take ins evidence they ought to correct course. this is not a two-party problem. this is a one-party problem. you have a couple of republicans on your committee. it's not even clear republicans will listen to them. are you concerned there's nothing that your committee can do or say thatidce to get those an interest, a political interest, a financial interest, whatever interest in maintaining the lie to stand down. >> our responsibility is to history and to the people and the congress and not to the democratics or the republicans and millions of americans who hate both political party and independents or green ors libertarians or something else. p when the president said that

there are election deniers on the ballot he's absolutely right about that. it's hard to think there's anything more dangerous than putting an election denier in charge of an election. it's like putting a mob boss in charge of the police or arsonist as the fire chief for the town. that doesn't work. i'm glad that message got through. that's not a partisan message it goes across the spectrum. if somebody is willing to deny the clear results of an election they shouldn't be running an election. when the president said that people shouldn't be denying elections when it's clear who has won. i would be willing to grant you don't accept the election as it comes down from administrative authorities, election officials. but if you had a challenge in court and the court's rejected every allegation of electoral fraud and corruption as more than 60 courts did with respect to donald trump's big lie about

the 2020 election. then in a democratic society you've got to accept that. what else can you do? you really are positioning yourself outside of the constitutional order and the rule of law if you continue to try to claim that you somehow won. it's also, obviously, a psychological malady, too. you are cutting up against everything we understand about healthy mental functioning. there's no basis for what they are saying so they are spreading paranoia in the land. >> it's incredibly dangerous as we saw for mr. pelosi and what happened to him. congressman raskin thank you very much. we appreciate your time tonight. back with me i want to bring back in my panel. former white house press secretary jen saki. david pluff former obama white house senior advisor. thank you for being here. i want to go you david. there was a point the congressman made that i want to

ask you about. we know that when president biden is doing anything in public he bidening. he's doing bipartisan things. it's what he does. it's innate in him. he has been over the past since this summer. he's talked about the maga movement pointedly. he's named them and named them as what's endangering our republic. are you surprised that he didn't do that tonight? we're so close to this election but the message he was giving was to essentially give a lot of grace to the republican party and say i know this is not the majority of the party and to say we need to come together. we need to unify around these ideas. america is an idea. this was a call for unity. were you surprised he didn't make some of the points you heard congressman raskin make. look, if you want to empower the people in d.c. who don't have a vote you need democrats to win. if you want to give women rights

over their own bodies you need democrats to win. are you surprised that wasn't in his speech? >> no. it's not lost on anybody that watches speech or sees the coverage on each side of this question. clearly there's a lot of rx, not all republicans. yesterday, joy, the candidate for governor in wisconsin said, the republican candidate, said if i win this election republicans will never lose another election in wisconsin. captures the thread as well as anyone ever said. i think the message the president was trying to send today is if you are a republican or a republican leaning independent. help us save democracy. you're not going probably be effective in asking them to do that if you absolutely torpedo the other party. i think what he's saying is let's make common cause save democracy. then we get back to fighting about tax rates and how to pay

for health care and all the things part of our country's history. it was a smart approach and that's what we need. it greatly concerns me that you have some large, tens of millions of republicans and republican leaning independents believe the winners of elections should win them. who doesn't agree with the big lie. but most of them seem intent on supporting election deniers. that concerns me as a citizen because we're not going to be safe until enough republicans make common cause of democratics and ultimately nominate republicans who are not a threat to democracy in their primaries. >> on that note this is a good time to bring in matthew dowd. it's a campaign i remember well. i left the news business and i can remember that loss, your victory, your campaign's victory being painful.

being in a room with people who worked their hearts out who had thrown everything. given all they had in the belief that george w. bush should not be the president of the united states any longer. many of us were opposed to the war in iraq. it was the reason i got involved in the first place. but in the end what we had to all do was to accept that he was going to be the president of the united states for four more years. there was no one around me, as many tears as you saw in those rooms, saying i'm going to pretend he's a hologram and not the real president. there were children buried in the white house. the thing is the challenge here is that a it is a republican problem. at some point someone who is a republican or who still has standing with them has got to call them off. it's getting worse and worse as you just said, as david said.

they are saying that will insure they never lose again. they will insure they always win. that's not democracy that's dictatorship. the republicans who stood up in their primaries almost every single one of them lost. liz chaney being point evidence. the only accountability left since the republican party refuses to hold their own members accountable or put any guardrails on this at all as the president described, is the general election. is the general election which is a very dicey affair because we're a country that is very polarized, that is not only demographically polarized but geographically polarized and puts us in a situation where that's the last thing left. i don't think this is going to move republicans and i don't think that was the president's goal at all in this. i think this speech, one, was

something from his heart. he believes completely. listening to his speech i was thinking about the transition the president has made in the last two years. i think he was very, in the initial phases had the idea i'll work with republicans. it's fine, democracy is safe and everything is fine. that's how he operated for a while and then it took him a while to get to this speech. understanding reality and seeing there isn't a republican party that's sane in this country today in the midst of this. again, this is on the voters right now. this is on the voters. i can blame candidates and campaigns and a that and i think many should have run better campaigns and had a more disciplined message on this message the president elicited tonight. it's up to the voters.

120 million plus will vote in total by november 8. that's my guess. it's really up to them because as the president said and i firmly believe this, we're on a knives's edge. trump and his supporters like michael looting said the conservative republican judge said are a clear and present danger to the united states of america. >> this is a great time to bring you back in jen. you worked as press secretary and had to face off with some of the right wing media. you understand full well the insensitive structure that's built in on the right for the media that serves that public is to never accept what joe biden says. never accept an election. on another channel they are saying that balsanaro won. it's that cycle that keeps a certain population captive. they are never out of the box saying if we don't guarantee we

win then, baby killing zombies are take over the country. they've invented every kind of description for democrats as inhuman monsters so they are incentivized. shouldn't any of us have been surprised some showed up at the capitol on january 6, 2021. they are told 24/7 the only way to save america is they must rule. they must rule forever and never lose an election. i wonder if you can talk about that. the incentive structure in their media is to never allow president biden to be the president of the whole united states. >> that's exactly right joy. i think the president didn't talk about the international side tonight but it struck me when he said it's more than about government. it's a way of being. a way of seeing the world. he's somebody who sees this as an issue, as you touched on, joy, around the world. author tear nichl versus

democracy and what we need to preserve and protect. when you see other networks doing or prop began dan on social media, which i'm sure is happening it's confusing and the type of models you see in countries like russia and nigh china where they push this confusing aauthoritarian one sided view. that is where we are headed. that is what the president is warning of and saying that if you, if we do not make a choice. if people do not stand up next week and moving forward that is what could potentially happen. i'll also say while he's not trying to speak to the republican party. certainly not. he's been around politics long enough to know that's not smart to do. he is a person that's going to offer a bridge. to republicans sitting out there and worried about inflation or taxes or maybe pro-life. whatever the issues are to say this is a defining moment and i think that is also part of what he was trying to convey tonight. >> david it strikes me that

president biden in a different way from donald trump is a nostalgia politician. he definitely is very sincere in his belief that the american experiment but for a few flaws is sound, it's solid and can brought back. he believes anyone can be brought back in the fold. he ap rates that way in a gracious way. it's rarely returned from the other side but he does operate that way. do you think as somebody in this game and done the political game as long as any of us or any of you guys on there. you are the experts. do you think that kind of politics is possible anymore or are we too far beyond the bend now that we could ever come back to a kind of politics we just argue about tax cut and what the tax code should look like and it's normal are we way passed that in your view? >> first of all, joy, presidents

are not political comb commentators or operatives. they have a bigger responsibility. biden, obama, both bushes going back trump is aout liar. we respect the rule of law and institutions. when you lost an election you conceded. i think a president has to speak to what the country has been and what it needs to remain. obviously, it's an imperfect union but i think that the threat is so pronounced right now, joy. if we are a democracy on january 20, 2025 my humble opinion is we will remain a democracy. that's very much an open question. look what is happening now. matthew is a former pollster. the republicans may have a good night next tuesday but what is it up by some of these republican polls, i'm sure some are done to the letter of the industry. others i think are garbage. you see knock and other networks

basically setting up the republicans are heading for a landslide. everything i see in early vote and polling suggest the democrats could have a decent night. we'll see. if democrats have a good night they'll scream from the top of their lungs the election is stolen. either republicans win all the elections or democrats can only win an election when they win in a landslide. i think that is the danger here and it's pumped in through our phones and through people's computer and televisions nonstop. i think our president has to speak to bigger issues. i don't think they can solely be a partisan. that's my answer, joy. i'm not naively optimistic. if we are a democracy january 20, 2025 i think we'll have escaped the worst. i put that proposition 50-50. which is a hard thing to say in

america but that's where we are. the signs are all around us. >> i agree. i want to pick back up on this and talk about this exact thing. the panel will stay with me. much more ahead on president biden's speech tonight on protecting democracy. right after this quick break. c right after this quick break. you guys aren't gonna give me the fake bill fight? c'mon, kev. you're earning 3% cash back. humor me. where is my wallet? i am paying. where is my wallet? i thought i gave it to you. oooohhh? oh, that's not it either. no. no. stop, i insist. that was good though. earn big time with chase freedom unlimited with no annual fee. how do you cashback? chase. make more of what's yours. we're looking into sexual harassment in hollywood. you used to work for harvey weinstein? we have allegations of harassment and assault. i said no so many times. how close are they to going on the record? two weeks at most. weinstein knows what we're doing. every call you make is being recorded. hello. -and you're being followed.

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who sponsored e know it. join me, habitat for humanity and the carpenters union in rejecting prop e and supporting prop d to bui love san francisco,ousing but i'm working overtime to stay here. now is not the time to raise taxes. i'm voting no on propositions m and o, because the cost of everything is going up. san francisco collects more tax revenue than nearly any city in america. but our streets are dirty and public safety is not getting better. i'm working hard to live within my budget. the city should too. join me in voting no on m and o. now is not the time to raise taxes in san francisco. vote no on m and o.

make no mistake democracy is on the ballot for all of us. this union and chaos are not inevitable. >> my panel is back with with

me. jen saki, matthew dowd and david pluf. to pick up on the point david made. are you concerned the narrative republicans are putting out. we talked earlier in the week about how they are pushing autoall of these polls, this muddy up the averages. and sort of create this narrative of a red wave. if it doesn't happen aren't we going to be in more dangerous of violence because they've created a narrative and if it doesn't happen they are going to say the election was stolen? >> i'm concerned about two things. that very much so as david annunciated. i have to say out loud david and jen and i were on opposite sides. never hated each other. have great respect for each other and now we're all on the same side. which i hope most americans are. they set up the narrative so if they lose the polls showed us winning overwhelming.

it must have been fixed. that's one. two, i'm concerned not by you but some media coverage that treats this all as some game. that has forecasts like here's the odds of this and republicans could win here and democrats could win there. it's like a weather guy covering a hurricane and saying oh, by the way, a hurricane is going to hit in three days. good night and not telling you what damage it's going to do, what to prevent it. the gamification of politics. not only through polls which is right has done but the media makes treating this as a game where it doesn't matter if a or b wins. we'll go about our lives. i hope what the president said tonight is that there is a serious chance that if this chas doesn't go well, we don't have democracy anymore, and 15 minutes from now, the world series is gonna be on. by the way, go phillies. you know it's more american than baseball? democracy. that's what's on the line here. >> jen, you've talked to folks

in the white house. are they concerned about that very thing? that there might be violence, that there might be serious violence if this red wave that is being almost promised by some in the media doesn't happen? as the white house prepared for that? are they worried about it? >> yes. joy, i think that's why the president gave such a strong part of that speech focused on what the next week could look like. because he wants people, voters out there to hang in there and recognize that exactly as david said, exactly as matthew said, it could happen. this was our biggest fear going into 2016, ironically, because we thought hillary clinton would win and donald trump would challenge it. this is a playbook republicans of used in the past. they've indicated they're gonna use it in the future. and when they say something, we should believe them. so the white house is worried about that. i think when the president's out there, what they also told me as we can expect to hear these things we've through his remarks. but this is gonna be an

argument that will need to be made time and time again, not just up to the election, but leading up to 2024 as well. >> we're gonna talk to the whole panel here, but i want to bring on patrick, president -- former ambassador to south africa, and former white house political director during the obama administration. patrick, good to see you. you're the expert in running these campaigns on the ground as well. i just want to give you a couple data points here. you've now had a judge order armed groups to get away from arizona drop boxes and stay at least 250 feet away, because they were standing with ar-15s another fire arms, washing drop boxes, intimidating people in florida, where i am right now. i was speaking with someone who was working around the campaigns here who said the african americans are literally expressing fear of going to vote, thinking even if they don't have any sort of arrest record, they're gonna be arrested. that people might have their

homogeneous, because they registered to vote because these arrests of a few people who had former felony records -- it's scaring people who don't even have a record. that's where we are. the voter intimidation israel. how concerned are you? >> i am so violently concerned, to put it bluntly, joy. i think for not village ellen, if we're not participatory -- then what happened on january 6th of last year could look like a sunday in the park. or a trial run for 2024, which could be a good deal worse not only in washington, d.c., but across state capitals in each of the battleground states. the president -- kind of address, which isn't really a bad election day, but the day after the election. he channels his inner philadelphia sports fan and tells the american people to trust the process. and he made it clear --

he made it clear that threats to election integrity aren't only about procedure, but they're about -- [inaudible] it's more important than ever for elected officials to -- clearly, and -- that american electors are safe and secure, well in advance of any erroneous claims. it's always important but particularly -- disinformation, and now being governed by people like elon musk made it clear -- horrific attack on paul pelosi -- absolutely no guardrail whatsoever. lastly -- campaigns i have, and as matthew will tell you, there's not a single campaign professional or strategist who encouraged president biden to deliver that speech. he didn't commit to talk about inflation or crime, all the issues that are top center in public polling. he talked about values, the

history of his democracy. that's a bold statement from our president. i'm gonna challenge the administration to continue to be bold in this one regard. -- reported that the department of homeland security has pulled back on efforts to protect election workers from harassment after republican attacks -- this is not a time for the federal government to -- ruby freeman, testified in front of the january six committee. we'll have to double down on democracy as the president did with those words tonight. we'll have to do that with administrative action, some doj, and from -- me ask you this question. >> you have a great global perspective. your ambassador to south africa, where after apartheid, the black majority fell in love with voting. lined up as long as they had to line up, and said this was our right we fought and died for. people fought and died for it. they were just in love with the idea of voting and democracy. in your view, what's your

opinion on how we can get americans to fall in that kind of groove? when we get 60% turnout, it's a great year. it's hard to get that. that's only in presidential years. how do we get people to connect the idea of voting, the idea of democracy, with the idea of your own personal impairment and improving your life? how do we get that message through? >> great question that runs right into the picture here, as you always do, try. i'll bring in another point. the president said that the majority of americans are united in our perception of democracy. but we have to know that over 70% of republicans right now are saying that the 2020 election was rigged and false. so we have so much work to do. on your question about what we have to do to develop that affinity for democracy, this is not just the u.s. challenge. it's a global challenge. i think people need to see the democracy day-to-day and their lives. we can't separate outcomes in democracy and -- economic inclusion and all of

our democracies in the global north, the global south, in the west, in developing countries as well. folks need to see that the disparities and our lives are closing and everyone has a chance to get to that starting line with an equal unfair opportunity to win the race. this is important. the other key areas -- i think we have to -- back to the space of values but the president took us to tonight. we have to come -- in our community that it is litigated through values and less specific issues that are kind of zero sum games by the electoral efforts. >> patrick gaspard, you're the best, thank you very much. appreciate you being here tonight. thank you. my panel is back with me. david, i want to ask you one sort of question. kind of the same idea. your former boss, president obama, was out there doing his thing, as only he can, in several states. and doing very well.

he communicates these ideas very simply and understandably. how can democrats do that better? i know he's one of a kind, but it's far away democrats can communicate these things and why that might actually move some folks who are maybe sort of ambivalent about democracy right now? >> you can always find a better campaign, but in a tough environment, democrats still have a good chance to hold on to the u.s. senate. it's just a reminder, seeing him out there. it's so important to leave the washington policy think tank speak behind, and just use real words and real language and vivid stories and values. when you talked about ron johnson, he talked about johnson not seeing you, not knowing you. he did just say he wanted to cut social security. and you have to tell a story. and i think that something that most good communicators excel at. and you can do it with humor. you can do it while even

raising the stakes. but i think that -- and listen. we have to understand as democrats, and this is true over the next six days, and it's certainly true in 2024. battleground states, swing senate states, swing house races, yes, you've got to turn out people like you've never turned the mat. you simply cannot win elections as a democrat unless you win the moderate centrist vote. and you've got to be able to do both, because we've got the deck stacked against us in terms of the electoral college in the senate. that's a necessity. that's not an opinion. that is actually a fact. >> that is great advice. hopefully, they'll take it. gentlemen, i'll give you the last word here. you recently worked for this white house. do you think biden is still optimistic about our democracy? he's very optimistic, but inside the white house, as they're thinking about it, are they making plans for if democracy starts going down after this election? it is not planning underway? >> absolutely, dry. it has to be.

but i think that's why he gave the speech. that's why you'll hear him talk more about it. and he's always gonna be a defender of institutions and the rule of law and what our country has the potential to be. >> yes. he's biden all the time. he's the most optimistic person. we should all get biden this way. jen psaki, matthew, david, thank you all very much. before we go tonight, i want to apologize to our friends in orlando and everyone at the wonderful ace café. we were planning to do a readout road show tonight, but our plans changed, because the potus said he would talk at 7:00. you've got to take him. we appreciate you guys and thank you. if you're, not the show will go on. i'll be live tomorrow night from the hall on the yard in orlando. please come on out and see us. my guests will encourage congresswoman -- whose challenging senator marco rubio, former governor charlie crist, who's trying to unseat ron desantis, and that's it. that's tonight's reidout. all in with chris hayrt